Castro selected as All-Star Game reserve

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ARLINGTON — In two years, the Astros hope to field a confident, talented team loaded with young professionals whose value on the field is rivaled by their passion for the game they play.

Catcher Jason Castro is one of the few current Astros who meets those winning requirements. And he’s a Major League Baseball All-Star reserve because of it.

Castro, 26, on Saturday was named to the American League squad as the Astros’ lone representative. It’s Castro’s first selection and long-delayed public validation for the No. 10 overall pick of the 2008 MLB amateur draft, who played in just 154 combined games during 2010 and 2012 and missed all of 2011 due to a knee injury.

The 84th annual game will be July 16 at Citi Field in New York.

After Saturday’s win over the Rangers, the lefthanded-hitting Castro (6-3, 215) is hitting .271 with 23 doubles, 31 RBIs and an .814 OPS. Entering Saturday, he ranked first among AL catchers in extra-base hits (34), second in doubles and fourth in runs (36).

Castro’s also a clubhouse leader on a struggling team that sits 24 games below .500 and with some veterans who view the July 31 trade deadline as a way to remove themselves from a club on pace for its third consecutive 100-loss season.

‘High expectations’

Held in high regard by everyone from first-year manager Bo Porter and general manager Jeff Luhnow to the Astros’ community relations department, the former Stanford standout has been the team’s best overall player through 88 games and is showing the potential to become a long-term piece of the organization’s competitive future.

“Jason Castro placed high expectations on himself.” Porter said. “We’re now witnessing what it is we all believed the organization had when he was picked in the first round. His maturation has taken place right before our eyes and it’s good to see, because he’s worked so hard to get his health back right and get his game to the point where he’s able to play at an elite level.”

Castro grew up holding home run derbies based off the annual All-Star Game. The future Astros catcher and his childhood friends would place stars’ names in a hat, shake it up, then draw out individual players, attaching their hitting heroics to the best in baseball.

Saturday, Castro bridged his current life with his past and cemented his name in MLB. He joins starter Joe Mauer (Minnesota) and reserve Salvador Perez (Kansas City) on the AL squad.

“It was something I was always hearing about growing up and watching all the All-Star Games,” said Castro, whose three-run homer in the seventh inning Saturday gave the Astros the lead immediately after the Rangers had tied the game. “It’s a pretty surreal thing to even be in the conversation. That in and of itself is a pretty cool experience.”

All-around catcher

Castro was named AL player of the week May 28 after hitting .579 with three home runs, five RBIs and a 1.741 OPS from May 20-26.

He entered Saturday leading MLB in multi-double games (six) and his 12 homers are the most for an Astros catcher since Mitch Meluskey hit 14 in 2000.

Castro’s defense is evolving. But he threw out the Rangers’ Ian Kinsler twice on steal attempts Saturday, is respected by the club’s pitchers and has linked up well with a makeshift staff that showed clear improvement from mid-May to late June.

“You have to remember that Castro had only caught one year in college and got drafted as a catcher — the Astros made that clear, that they wanted him to catch. So he’s taken the bull by the horns and really run with it,” said Astros No. 1 starter Bud Norris, who was also an All-Star candidate. “He’s in there doing all the scouting reports with (pitching coach Doug) Brocail … figuring these things out, and it’s really paid dividends for all of us.”

Two years ago, Castro couldn’t even get on a major league field. Now, he’s the most-complete Astros player wearing a pro uniform and barring a teammate being a replacement selection, he’ll be the lone athlete in New York at the All-Star Game representing a franchise trying to figure out how to win at the major league level while creating lasting names for the future.

“I’ve put in a lot of work to get back to where I feel like I should be and it’ll be a re-affirmation of the process — everything that I’ve done to get back to this point,” Castro said. “I feel like it’ll definitely be a good reward and motivating factor to keep going. You’ll never really be satisfied and there’s always something to improve on.”